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KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — Putrajaya’s moratorium on foreign worker recruitment will delay the completion of projects  and may cause subcontractors to go out of business, according to the Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM).

MBAM president Matthew Tee in a statement said that contractors are already facing thinning profit margins, which would further erode if they are forced to pay penalties for delayed projects due to lack of manpower.

“Some smaller sub-contractors might even go out of business in the medium to long term if this decision to suspend the intake of foreign workers is not reversed because they are dependent on larger contractors to finance the recruitment of foreign workers for them,” he said.

“Some contractors might also resort to employing illegal foreign workers to complete their projects on time and within budget. This will defeat the objective of the suspension which is to control the number of foreign workers in the country.”

Tee added that the government’s suspension on new intakes of foreign workers also extended to a freeze in renewing permits of existing migrants, who would now risk getting arrested and deported.

“We appeal to the government to immediately lift the suspension on intake of foreign workers and the freeze order on the renewal of permits for foreign workers as it has caused extreme difficulties for employers across industries including the construction industry in Malaysia,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, who is also the chairman of the Cabinet committee on foreign workers, announced last month that the government was suspending all foreign worker recruitment with immediate effect.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also home minister, added that the moratorium will remain until Putrajaya is convinced about the actual manpower requirements in the various sectors locally.

The freeze came amid growing protests over Putrajaya’s plan to recruit at least part of the 1.5 million labourers being offered by Bangladesh.

The Human Resource Ministry recently revealed that there were 2,135,035 documented foreign workers as of December last year and an estimated 1.7 million illegal workers in Malaysia.

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